Thank you so much to everyone who has left such amazing reviews. I attempted to respond to them all, but my lovely computer kept wonking out on me. As far as I know, all my responses went through, but my apologies if they didn't.

snlover: Oh yes, Sam's in for a little more trouble. But those pesky ribs will still continue to nag at Dean. Those poor boys. hehee

Thanks again!!!

A Mother's Love

The unseen crimbils' angry growls seemed to come at them from every direction. Sam gripped his gun tightly. His eyes veered wildly from one end of the cave to the other before finally landing on the grave face of his brother. Dean motioned towards Sam with his chin, his brow furrowed. Sam nodded back his acknowledgment of the unspoken message, and quickly brought his gun up. He aimed the gun at one end of the cave, then back at the other as Dean darted across the passageway, reaching his side in three swift strides.

Sam turned so the brothers stood back to back; Dean facing the way they'd came and Sam covering the front. Sam shifted nearly all of his weight onto his left leg, resting just the ball of his right foot against the floor. His arms outstretched before him, he aimed both the gun and his flashlight into the darkness, ready to fire if any of the shapeshifting creatures came at them.

"How many?" Dean's whispered words were strained, his cracked ribs coupled with the tense standoff making the question barely audible.

"Too many." Sam answered, his keen eyes watching for the slightest shifting in the shadows. The growling had quieted down to a low hum that reverberated through the passageway. Sam worked to keep his breathing at an even keel. He hadn't been too concerned at first. The crimbils hadn't seemed to pose much of a threat. If anything, the touching game in the cave, and even the mini rock assault, had reinforced Sam's belief that these creatures really were just children. Granted, they were unbelievably ugly, creepy little monsters, but they'd seemed intent on simply messing with Winchesters, playing childish pranks. But after witnessing the death of one of their own, Sam had a feeling the game was about to turn deadly.

Sam readjusted the grip he had on his gun, feeling his palms becoming slick with sweat. The waiting was killing him. Part of him wanted to run forward into the dark tunnel and just start shooting. But the crimbils had the home field advantage; they knew the layout of the caves, and were obviously comfortable moving about in the darkness. Plus, any attempt at rushing the creatures would undoubtedly result in Sam's chin rushing to hit the cave floor. There'd definitely be no running today, not with his badly sprained knee barely able to keep him upright. It seemed the only way to end the standoff was to draw the crimbils out.

Dean had apparently come to the same conclusion. "Ok, enough of the crap." he muttered. Taking the tiniest of steps away from Sam, he called out in a slightly louder voice, "All right, here's the deal. Come out now, and you won't end up worm food like your ugly little brother."

The unnerving hum stopped suddenly, plunging the cave into an even more unsettling silence. Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's crass words. "Dean, you're just pissing them off!"

"Well, what the hell do you want me to do?" Dean hissed back harshly. "We're totally surrounded. We don't know how many of them there are, or what the little bastards are capable of. I don't know about you, but I don't plan on waiting around all day to find out."

"I'm just saying, we've got to approach this differently. Remember, they're children."

"Yeah, if Gollum and Dobby had kids, I bet they'd look just like 'em." Dean bit back sarcastically. "What do you want me to do, go play ring-around-the-rosy with them?"

Sam frowned. It looked like it was up to him to figure a way out of this mess. Man, this sucked. He was, in essence, murdering one mother's children to save another's. Granted, the "children" were horrid shapeshifting monsters, and their mommy dearest was a mythical baby snatcher, but still, Sam was finding it difficult to accept.

Sam cleared his throat and his mind. "We're not here to hurt anyone. We've just come to find our friend." Sam took a breath, willing his voice not to waver. "We're so sorry about your brother. It was a horrible mistake."

Dean snorted softly at Sam's last sentence. Sam ignored him and prepared to launch further into his speech when a distant cry came from the tunnel ahead.

"I wanna go home! "

Sam gasped. "Jenna?" The timid word seemed to die as soon as it left Sam's lips. He tried again. This time his voice carried into the darkness.

"Jenna!"

"Sam." Dean's voice held a note of warning.

The cries of a young child floated through the air, pelting Sam's heart with each hiccupping sob. He closed his eyes in relief, allowing himself just a moment. He'd found her.

Sam leaned as far forward as he could. He stretched his left arm out towards the tunnel, using the powerful beam of his flashlight to penetrate a few inches further.

Something moved in the shadows.

Sam's right hand flew up, the gun now level with his light. Something was coming towards him.

"Dean!" Sam hissed, alerting his brother to the movement.

The weeping ceased as a small form stepped forward into the glow of Sam's light. Sam immediately dropped the gun, a huge grin spreading across his face.

"Jenna!"

The little girl stopped, her blue eyes wide as she stared at Sam. He hid the gun behind his back and aimed the flashlight up at his face, holding it at an angle to avoid giving his face a ghastly look.

Sam's entire body was practically twitching, his screwed-up knee the only thing keeping him from rushing forward and sweeping the little girl into his arms. "Honey, it's Sam. Officer Darrow. I'm here to take you home." Man, it felt so good to say those words!

Jenna took a hesitant step into the spotlight created by Dean's flashlight. Other than a slight tear on the arm of her green sweater and a few smudges of dirt on her face, she seemed to bear no physical effects from her ordeal.

"Sam, there's something—"

Sam quickly spoke over Dean's words, his attention focused solely on Jenna. "Jenna, where are the other kids? Where's your brother? Where's Stevie?"

An odd sound came from behind him, almost as if something was being dragged across the ground. Jenna was plunged into darkness as Dean swung his flashlight towards the source of the noise. Sam quickly replaced the light, not wanting to further frighten the girl. He tried to keep his smile comforting as he brought the gun back out and held it down by his thigh.

Three rapid gunshots blasted from behind Sam. He hop/spun around, his eyes locking on the retreating forms of several crimbil. Sam fired twice. Both shots missed, the hoarse cries of the crimbils fading away as they ran out of sight.

Dean slowly squeezed the trigger, nearly sending a fourth bullet towards the fleeing creatures before yanking the gun back to his shoulder. "Dammit!"

Sam wiped his arm across his forehead. So much adrenaline was running through his system, he'd swear he was sweating the stuff. He surveyed the carnage before him.

Their father would've been proud; every one of Dean's shots had found their mark. Three dead crimbils were sprawled face down on the ground, their knotted little hands stretched out towards the body of their fallen sibling. Their onyx eyes shone brightly in light of the Winchesters' flashlights, the catlike nature of their eyes reflecting the light in a brilliant green.

Sam jumped as Jenna violently resumed her sobbing. Hysterical high pitched wails seemingly too big for her tiny body filled the cavern.

Sam winced. That poor kid was going to be scarred for life. Sam turned back around, carefully keeping his gun out of sight as he faced the terrified girl. He limped forward two steps, nearly falling on the third. He quickly shoved the gun in the back waistband of his jeans before reaching a hand out towards the seven year old.

"Jenna! Jenna, honey, it's ok! No one's going to hurt you, I promise." Sam earnestly wiggled his fingers, beckoning Jenna to him. "Just come over here. I just want to take you home, back to your daddy. Don't you want to see your daddy?"

Jenna continued to cry, her dirty hands covering her face. Dean stood by Sam's right shoulder, his sharp green eyes pingponging between the dead crimbils and Sam's dilemma.

"Get her out of here. Now."

Sam leaned over even further, continuing to physically coax Jenna forward while directing his answer at his brother. "Dean, I am not leaving you here."

Even though the hunters stood mere inches apart, Dean had to practically shout to be heard over Jenna's incessant wailing. "Look, bullets took out the little ones, so chances are Big Momma'll go out the same way. They can't be too far away. I'll go smoke the bendith and get the other kids before you and Jenna have time to play tea party."

Jenna's cries had begun to slow during Dean's speech and had quieted completely at the mention of the bendith. Her blue eyes narrowed as a look of pure hatred crossed her face.

"Jenna?" Sam raised himself back to his full height, thrown by the sudden mood swing.

Dean stepped away from Sam and aimed the flashlight at Jenna's stomach, bathing her in the bright yellow light. "Come on, kid. It's time to blow this pop stand."

Jenna continued to give the brothers the death stare while taking a few slow steps backward, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Dammit, kid, we don't have time for this crap." Dean barked, directing the flashlight at Jenna's face. "Get over here, now!"

Dean stormed over to retrieve the child, who continued to back away. The yellow beam jumped around her face as Dean's angry steps jolted the flashlight.

"Dean." Sam glanced behind to make sure no other crimbils were around before limping after his impatient brother. "Dean, you're scaring her!"

Sam stopped short, the rest of the admonishment stuck in his throat. Jenna's eyes…had he just seen…?

"What the…?" Dean abruptly halted his pursuit of the child and pulled the flashlight down towards Jenna's stomach. After a quick glance back at an equally distressed Sam, the two hunters simultaneously raised their lights up to Jenna's eyes.

Jenna took one final step back, raising an arm to shield her eyes. Her reaction had been just slow enough for Sam to see her bright blue eyes inhumanly reflect back the light.

Dean's right arm flew up, the bullet leaving his gun before Sam could fully process what was happening. The tiny blonde recoiled sharply as the slug hit her just above her ribcage. Her catlike eyes still caught in the glow of the flashlights, she slowly collapsed to her knees.

"Jenna!" The cry ripped itself from Sam's throat as the distraught man ran towards the fallen child. Blinding pain seared through his right leg as his sprained knee buckled, sending him crashing to the floor.

Sam hit hard, his knees and elbows taking the brunt of the fall. The pain overwhelmed his body, temporarily paralyzing him even as his mind screamed to get up, to get moving. He could hear Dean anxiously calling to him, could feel his brother's warm hand on his back. As his breath returned to him, the new pain left his extremities and migrated down to his right knee, which was already on fire from the fall. Sam unconsciously curled in on himself, grabbing his knee and pulling it towards his chest. He lowered his forehead to the overly swollen joint, rocking slightly as he tried to breathe through the pain.

The white noise of Dean's voice became clear as he tried helplessly to calm his anguished little brother. "That's it, Sammy, just breathe through it. Come on, you've been hurt way worse than this. You're ok, just breathe." Dean squeezed his shoulder with his left hand, the gun still in his right as he kept a careful eye on their surroundings.

Sam let go of his knee with one hand, slamming his fist against the hard ground as the pain began to subside to an almost tolerable level. Lifting his head away from his knee, he forced himself to look further up the tunnel. Dean followed his gaze and silently lit the object Sam was searching for.

The dead crimbil lay on it's back, it's strawberry colored hair nearly as bright as the rivulets of blood that ran down the green sweater. It's black eyes stared unseeingly at Sam, reflecting vibrantly in the bright beam. It's full lips were twisted in an expression of pain and rage.

Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from the shapeshifting creature, his own fury building with every breath. Unable to withstand the emotional and physical pain any longer, Sam lowered his head back down to his knee and screamed.

snsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsn

Eyes black as night flashed angrily as she listened to her children's horrifying stories. Two strangers, two humans, had callously entered her home and had murdered her precious babies, killing them mercilessly with their powerful sticks of thunder. She winced as another thunderclap sounded from somewhere near the cave's entrance. Her misshapen hands curled into tightly clenched fists. No doubt another one of her children had fallen victim to the vicious humans.

She darted down the twisty corridors.

They will pay.